1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a valve device that includes a wire channel through which a wire is routed from the inside of a tank to the outside of the tank.
2. Discussion of Background
Usually, a valve device fitted to a high-pressure gas tank includes a gas passage that provides communication between the inside of a gas tank and the outside of the gas tank, and a valve mechanism that controls the flow rate of high-pressure gas delivered through the gas passage. For example, a valve device described in US 2003/0151018 includes a solenoid valve that serves as a valve mechanism used to control gas supply. In this valve device, a power supply wire for the solenoid valve is drawn to the outside of a gas tank through a casing of the valve device without passing through the inside of the gas tank. Thus, high hermeticity is ensured.
However, for example, some hydrogen gas tanks for a fuel-cell vehicle have a temperature sensor arranged therein. In this case, a wire channel that provides communication between the inside and outside of the gas tank needs to be fowled in order to draw wires for the temperature sensor to the outside of the tank. Conventionally, in order to seal such a wire channel, there is used a hermetic connector in which a sealing member is arranged around wire pins that constitute part of the wires.
For example, a conventional hermetic connector 61 shown in FIG. 8 includes a tubular body 63 that is arranged in a wire channel 62 to extend along the axis of the wire channel 62, wire pins 64 that extend through the tubular body 63, and an O-ring 65 that serves as a seal member for hermetically sealing the gap between the outer periphery of the tubular body 63 and the inner periphery of the wire channel 62. The hermetic connector 61 is configured such that the gaps between the inner periphery of the tubular body 63 and the wire pins 64 are hermetically sealed by a sealing member 66 provided within the tubular body 63.
However, a hard material, such as ceramic and glass, is usually used as a sealing member of such a hermetic connector. Therefore, if wires are pulled from the outside with excessive force, wire pins may be pulled out of a portion of the hermetic connector, at which the sealing member is arranged, by the pulling force. This may reduce the hermeticity.